Vogel hopeful this is S.J.'s year

STOCKTON - The economic meltdown that slammed family and government budgets alike left San Joaquin County reeling.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - The economic meltdown that slammed family and government budgets alike left San Joaquin County reeling.

County government was able to stay on its feet, but not without a cost.

Cuts hit services, reducing staff from county departments that provide everything from criminal prosecution to nutritional education. Some employees lost their jobs, and bargaining groups made concessions. County officials tapped accumulated reserves and funds for capital projects to keep the county budget steady.

In 2013, there is hope - not certainty, but hope - that a sustained turnaround has begun, said Ken Vogel, a member of the Board of Supervisors for six years and the chairman of the board for 2013. But if the county is able to start building back this year, caution is important, he said.

So is balance.

"There has to balance," Vogel, 67, said in a recent interview about the year to come in county government. "A balance between the different departments in the county, the needs of our labor unions ... and the long-term needs we have in the future."

The board set a policy to build its reserves for contingency up to about 5 percent of the budget. It would take more than three times the current reserve level of $19 million to reach that goal.

"The county was able to get through a lot of this because we had a good reserve ... and a good capital reserve," he said. "We have drained some of these."

On the capital side going forward, he said officials could make decisions in 2013 toward paying for projects with long-term impacts, such as building a south county satellite for government services, building a new regional animal shelter and replacing the old tower of San Joaquin General Hospital, which the state says was not built to stand up to a major earthquake.

For the San Joaquin County Jail, there's $80 million available from the state to build an expanded facility, but the county hasn't identified how to pay the ongoing cost of operating an expanded jail.

Inmates can be released early when the jail is full. That's been a bigger concern since the state in 2011 shifted more responsibility to incarcerate and supervise criminals to local governments in a move known as "realignment."

In the new year, the county will have more information to determine how well new realignment programs have been working to handle the population and reduce recidivism, Vogel said.

"There's more data coming," he said.

But the county needs to have some idea what to do next with jail capacity, and realignment and the possibility of expanding the jail will be related issues in the new year, he said.

"I see it as part of the whole general picture," he said.

As always, water issues will figure large in San Joaquin County in the year to come. And nothing will loom larger than developing state plans to manage the Delta, an important water source for local users and across the state.

About a quarter of the county's $2.2 billion agriculture industry generates in the Delta itself, and any hit to that industry will have impacts to the local economy, he said. Local concern centers on the possibility of building tunnels to divert water around the Delta to export pumps.

Vogel said a stronger local role is needed as the state makes it plans, a process that will continue in 2013. "I think extra vigilance is needed."

Vogel said his duties as chairman won't diminish his focus on water. He and Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller have taken the lead on water issues on the board. But both are set to term out in two years, which is why Vogel said now is the time for the newer supervisors to start taking a bigger role in the complicated issues of water.

The new year also will see the board choosing a replacement for County Administrator Manuel Lopez, who announced he will retire.

And 2013 will see the update of the county's General Plan come before the Board of Supervisors for a vote. The process to update this constitution of sorts for growth and development in the county has taken years. By spring, the board could vote on a preferred direction and individual proposals for new rural development.

Originally, the county planned to wait for the new General Plan to be adopted before changing the rules governing wineries in the county's rural areas. But conflicts among rural neighbors, the agricultural industry as a whole and a growing group of boutique wineries bringing tourists to the Lodi wine country flared up in 2012.

In 2013, Vogel said he'd like to accelerate efforts to fashion those rules, even if it means providing more funding to the county department busy updating the General Plan.

"Hopefully we can find a balance in the whole process that can enable the (agritourism) industry to continue to grow and be successful, provide the place in the country that people want to live in, and allow our farming industry to conduct itself without any problems or hindrances," he said.

The end result might not please everybody, but it is time to move forward and get something done, he said.

"One of my favorite words is 'balance,' " he said.

Vogel said he looks forward to getting things done. It will be his second stint as chairman, which prepares him for the complexity and the uncertainty in the year to come, he said.

"There are issues, that when you start the year as chairman, you think maybe are the most important issues," he said. "Then when you finish the year, maybe there are issues you hadn't even thought of."